


right before we go!

by arctics (antarcticas)



Series: zutara drabble december 2020 [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Dialogue Heavy, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, F/M, ZK Drabble December 2020, Zutara, fear of the dark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-01
Updated: 2020-12-01
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:20:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 819
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27816700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/antarcticas/pseuds/arctics
Summary: Zuko wants to take the car. Katara wants to walk. A compromise must be reached.
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar)
Series: zutara drabble december 2020 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2035429
Comments: 6
Kudos: 70
Collections: ZK Drabble December 2020





	right before we go!

**Author's Note:**

> For ZK Drabble December 2020 Day One, Nightfall! This is randomish but I hope you like it <3

"Are you sure we should walk?"

"Zuko?" Katara raises her eyes at her boyfriend in the artificial light of their home, squinting. "Suki's apartment is literally two streets away. We are _not_ driving."

As she looks at him, he swallows. "You sure? Streets aren't safe at night, you know."

"We're in the Upper Ring of Ba Sing Se. _Nothing_ is going to happen here. And even if it did . . . you've got that knife you always keep in your pocket."

The lights are on in the hallway of their apartment, and they're standing right outside the door. Zuko dangles the car keys in front of Katara, taking them off the hook they're hanging on, and she sighs and whacks his hand away. He pouts and then reaches for his back pocket. "I don't keep a knife on me."

"Uh-uh."

"Katara," he complains. "I do _not._ That would be incredibly paranoid of me. And I'm not incredibly paranoid."

Katara pushes a piece of hair behind her ear and sighs— they'll be late to the dinner party, but she should have expected that. "Open pockets."

"There's nothing in my pocket!"

"I swear on Tui and La— _Zuko—"_ she ducks down and shifts behind him until she's staring at his ass, his hand attempting to hide the heavy bulge in his back pocket. "Zuko, I know about the knife. It's okay."

"You're not going to make me put it away, are you?"

He sounds like a child. She cannot believe she's dating him. "All I'm saying is that if you're going to freak everyone out by being oddly attracted to a knife--"

"—It's a _dagger—"_

"You shouldn't be uncomfortable with walking in the dark for ten minutes. Literally nothing is going to happen."

"I don't . . ." he trails off. "I read that article in the news the other day about the teenagers who were kidnapped at that university in Omashu. In a white van. They thought they were safe but then _bam,_ they got kidnapped and . . . that could easily be us!"

"Are you doubting your ability to stab someone for me?"

"I would stab anyone in the world for you," Zuko complains. "Don't doubt me. I'm just saying that _thinking_ that walking in the dark is fine is how most people get kidnapped."

"Most people," Katara sighs. "Girls walking alone at night, maybe. Not girls walking with their boyfriends who happen to take daggers everywhere and who literally work at a martial arts studio. We are not taking the car. We're not sending up emissions into the atmosphere when walking will literally take zero time," she rolls her eyes and points at the time on his phone. "We're already late. Come on."

The scar on Zuko's face should make it hard for him to pull off puppy-eyes, but they work strangely well on his face. 

Katara thinks her stupidly large and tall and muscular and dangerous boyfriend might be about to _cry._

"Zuko," she says calmly, "we've walked to Suki's place literally a thousand times before. What's changed?"

"Yeah," he groans, "we have. During the summer. Not during the middle of winter. It's—"

Katara waits patiently against her nature, glancing down at her phone again. They're already ten minutes late. She should text Suki, but she doesn't want to break up Zuko's concentration. "Yeah?"

"It's super dark, okay?" his face turns bright red. "I don't like it. There's no moon or anything outside. It's . . . ah!"

He uses his hands to cover his face, and Katara's heart stops for a moment before she breaks out into laughter. "You're afraid of the dark?"

"Not . . . the dark," he says mournfully. "Well, yes . . . weird things happen at night, okay?"

"You're so paranoid. You need to start reading articles that aren't about kidnappings—"

"I don't!" he yelps. "Not . . . I read more than that!"

Katara reaches up and brushes a strand of his hair, fallen out of his topknot, behind his ear. "What's up, Sparky?"

Zuko's face turns back to its regularly scheduled programming, pale rather than bright red, and he suddenly presses her into him, into his chest. Katara's face smushes against his dress-shirt. "I . . . it reminds me of my father. You know there was that day he was about to . . . hurt me," he chokes, "at night, when it was dark, and even in prison . . . it reminds me of him."

Her heart opens up, and she thrusts her arms tighter around him, taking in his spicy, clean scent. "Okay," she breathes. "Okay. I get that. And . . ." her undergrad degree was in psychology, and she thinks she knows what he might need. "Let's make new memories, okay? Ones with me. Is that okay?"

She waits with bated breath as his eyes clear up, and he looks at her with love. "Yeah," he smiles. "That sounds okay. We can— we can walk?"

"Any chance you'll leave the dagger home? I think it freaks Aang out—"

"Small steps," he laughs. "Small steps."


End file.
